Mitchell Charlesworth VAT Director, Alison Birch, was the guest speaker at a recent VAT seminar at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Dubai.

The event was hosted by fellow Kreston member Awni Farsakh and there were 53 delegates from over 34 companies in attendance.

Alison, who has specialised in VAT for 16 years, presented on VAT readiness, outlining how VAT can impact businesses and the steps they need to do to become ready for the launch of VAT.

Alison has been studying the VAT law in the UAE to assist some of her clients that are based in the UAE and was able to use this knowledge to apply UAE VAT law to a number of live case studies at the seminar.

Alison said “Being involved in the launch of VAT is fascinating for me and it is wonderful to be able to offer my experience of an evolved VAT system to businesses that are having to deal with this tax for the first time.”

Managing Partner of Awni Farsakh, Mr Eyad Farsakh said: "This was an excellent seminar. We would like to offer special thanks to Alison and Mitchell Charlesworth for her and her firm's support and cooperation and, going forward, we hope to develop a strong working relationship with regards to VAT services in the UAE."

Jon Lisby, Kreston CEO added: "This was clearly a very successful event and is an excellent example of how Kreston firms can work together to achieve outstanding results."